Winter has been
rolling through, with snow squalls hitting hard here in New Jersey and then disappearing. And suddenly we’re a week into February, the shortest month of the year packed with two big celebrations: Black History and Valentine’s Day. While the skeptic in me feels that there’s no reason to limit when and how we recognize the cultural history and influence of African Americans, or to blindly celebrate romantic love based on a card industry holiday—why not seize an opportunity? We’re deep into one of the coldest winters on record, and in need of some good listens. So the less skeptical part of me is embracing these February traditions. Here are the listens I’ve been inspired to check out this month.-
She Would Be King
- A Novel
- By: Wayétu Moore
- Narrated by: Wayétu Moore
- Length: 9 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Wayétu Moore’s powerful debut novel, She Would Be King, reimagines the dramatic story of Liberia’s early years through three unforgettable characters who share an uncommon bond. Gbessa, exiled from the West African village of Lai, is starved, bitten by a viper, and left for dead, but still she survives. June Dey, raised on a plantation in Virginia, hides his unusual strength until a confrontation with the overseer forces him to flee. Norman Aragon, the child of a white British colonizer and a Maroon slave from Jamaica, can fade from sight when the earth calls him.
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Beautiful example of magical realism.
- By Danielle on 10-07-18
History Through Magical Realism
Wayétu Moore’s debut novel is a beautiful of example of showing
not just telling
the story of Liberia’s early history and the far-reaching and circular influence of the African diaspora in the US, Liberia, and beyond. This influence permeates her every word, as well as the tone and tenor of this unforgettable story. As she discusses in her interview with Audible editor Abby, Wayétu insisted on auditioning to narrate her own book. She wanted the best performer to get the job and in the end she won out—and how lucky we are to have her voice to tell us this uniquely American, and African, story.
Listen closely
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Jane Eyre
- By: Charlotte Brontë
- Narrated by: Thandiwe Newton
- Length: 19 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Following Jane from her childhood as an orphan in Northern England through her experience as a governess at Thornfield Hall, Charlotte Brontë's Gothic classic is an early exploration of women's independence in the mid-19th century and the pervasive societal challenges women had to endure. At Thornfield, Jane meets the complex and mysterious Mr. Rochester, with whom she shares a complicated relationship that ultimately forces her to reconcile the conflicting passions of romantic love and religious piety.
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Perfect!!
- By Amazon Customer on 04-21-16
Swipe Left Love Stories
Betches, a pop culture website dedicated to female friendships, relationships, and roasting a certain TV dating show, recently launched their own dating app in conjunction with Match Group. Ship, as the app is called, allows your friends to check out profiles and swipe on potential matches for you, giving the dating app scene a much needed social shake-up. The concept got us book nerds thinking—if we’d had the chance, which literary love stories would we have swiped left on?
Be a Friend
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"Cat Person" and Other Stories
- By: Kristen Roupenian
- Narrated by: Aubrey Plaza, Jayme Mattler, Molly Pope, and others
- Length: 7 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
This collection brilliantly explores the ways in which women are horrifying, as much as it captures the horrors that are done to them. Spanning a range of genres and topics - from the mundane to the murderous and supernatural - these are stories about sex and punishment, guilt and anger, the pleasure and terror of inflicting and experiencing pain. These stories fascinate and repel, revolt and arouse, scare and delight in equal measure. And, as a collection, they point a finger at you, daring you to feel uncomfortable.
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I definitely don’t want this.
- By K. Clay on 01-16-19
Gutsy Lit in 12 Parts
When Kristen Roupenian’s short story Cat Person was published in The New Yorker, it quickly went viral, becoming its own cultural phenomenon. A year later, her debut collection proves that success was not a fluke. These stories range from uncomfortable to truly horrifying—each with its own perfectly cast narrator. Roupenian’s female characters are at times tough and at other times vulnerable—as terrified as they are terrifying. In some stories the violence comes to a head and in others it simply lingers, but the possibility is always there, simmering under the surface.
Take Your Pick
New Releases
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Unquiet
- A Novel
- By: Linn Ullmann
- Narrated by: Isabel Keating
- Length: 10 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
A heartbreaking and darkly funny depiction of the intricacies of family, Unquiet is an elegy of memory and loss, identity and art, growing up and growing old. Linn Ullmann nimbly blends memoir and fiction in her most inventive novel yet, weaving a luminous meditation on language, mourning, and the many narratives that make up a life.
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Marvelous
- By Cherilyn Parsons on 02-03-19
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A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
- By: James Joyce
- Narrated by: Colin Farrell
- Length: 8 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
This quintessential coming-of-age novel describes the early life of Stephen Dedalus. It is set in Ireland during the 19th century, which was a time of emerging Irish nationalism and conservative Catholicism. Highly autobiographical in nature, the work is also notable for its being the first one in which Joyce uses innovative “stream of consciousness” writing style. A Portrait... follows Stephen Dedalus from his babyhood into early adulthood.
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Bitterly disappointed
- By James on 01-29-19
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The Snow Gypsy
- By: Lindsay Jayne Ashford
- Narrated by: Heather Wilds
- Length: 10 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
At the close of World War II, London is in ruins and Rose Daniel isn’t at peace. Eight years ago, her brother disappeared while fighting alongside Gypsy partisans in Spain. From his letters, Rose has just two clues to his whereabouts - his descriptions of the spectacular south slopes of the Sierra Nevada and his love for a woman who was carrying his child. In Spain, it has been eight years since Lola Aragon’s family was massacred. Eight years since she rescued a newborn girl from the arms of her dying mother and ran for her life.
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Sing song reading.
- By Angel on 04-11-19
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Golden Child
- A Novel
- By: Claire Adam
- Narrated by: Obi Abili
- Length: 7 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Rural Trinidad: a brick house on stilts surrounded by bush; a family, quietly surviving, just trying to live a decent life. Clyde, the father, works long, exhausting shifts at the petroleum plant in Southern Trinidad; Joy, his wife, looks after the home. Their two sons are twins but nothing alike: Paul has always been considered odd, while Peter is widely believed to be a genius, destined for greatness. When Paul goes walking in the bush one afternoon and doesn't come home, Clyde is forced to go looking for him, this child who he has never really understood.
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Underwhelmed
- By L. Boedeker on 02-04-19
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Unquiet
- A Novel
- By: Linn Ullmann
- Narrated by: Isabel Keating
- Length: 10 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A heartbreaking and darkly funny depiction of the intricacies of family, Unquiet is an elegy of memory and loss, identity and art, growing up and growing old. Linn Ullmann nimbly blends memoir and fiction in her most inventive novel yet, weaving a luminous meditation on language, mourning, and the many narratives that make up a life.
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Marvelous
- By Cherilyn Parsons on 02-03-19
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A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
- By: James Joyce
- Narrated by: Colin Farrell
- Length: 8 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This quintessential coming-of-age novel describes the early life of Stephen Dedalus. It is set in Ireland during the 19th century, which was a time of emerging Irish nationalism and conservative Catholicism. Highly autobiographical in nature, the work is also notable for its being the first one in which Joyce uses innovative “stream of consciousness” writing style. A Portrait... follows Stephen Dedalus from his babyhood into early adulthood.
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Bitterly disappointed
- By James on 01-29-19
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The Snow Gypsy
- By: Lindsay Jayne Ashford
- Narrated by: Heather Wilds
- Length: 10 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At the close of World War II, London is in ruins and Rose Daniel isn’t at peace. Eight years ago, her brother disappeared while fighting alongside Gypsy partisans in Spain. From his letters, Rose has just two clues to his whereabouts - his descriptions of the spectacular south slopes of the Sierra Nevada and his love for a woman who was carrying his child. In Spain, it has been eight years since Lola Aragon’s family was massacred. Eight years since she rescued a newborn girl from the arms of her dying mother and ran for her life.
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Sing song reading.
- By Angel on 04-11-19
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Golden Child
- A Novel
- By: Claire Adam
- Narrated by: Obi Abili
- Length: 7 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Rural Trinidad: a brick house on stilts surrounded by bush; a family, quietly surviving, just trying to live a decent life. Clyde, the father, works long, exhausting shifts at the petroleum plant in Southern Trinidad; Joy, his wife, looks after the home. Their two sons are twins but nothing alike: Paul has always been considered odd, while Peter is widely believed to be a genius, destined for greatness. When Paul goes walking in the bush one afternoon and doesn't come home, Clyde is forced to go looking for him, this child who he has never really understood.
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Underwhelmed
- By L. Boedeker on 02-04-19
About the Editor
Tricia listens to discover characters and voices that transport her, not to a fantasy world, but to the heart of what it is to be human in this world. Follow her on Twitter @tricia___ford.